Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead

K, well, maybe not a witch, but my writer's block is gone! Hooray!

While I was waiting for my characters to start talking to me again, I looked for any kind of inspiration I could. I watched some good (and not so good) movies, and read a bunch of books - taking notes on things I liked and didn't like so I could apply it to my own writing. And then I read a book that helped me break through my wall.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

To say it's a delicious morsel of YA romance is an understatement. In my opinion, it got everything right. I LOVED Anna. I wanted her to be real so we could become friends. She was smart and sassy and her inner dialogue was HILARIOUS. I was constantly laughing or giggling out loud. Her love interest - St. Clair - was fabulous and witty and completely charming. While they had chemistry right away, I love that they became friends first. They had a wonderful friendship and it just made the book that much better for me. There was plenty of conflict and subplots to keep everything moving and the ending made me sigh with delight and contentment. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Anyway, reading this fantastic book gave me back my desire to write again. Immediately after finishing, my characters started talking to me again and my mind was flooded with scenes and dialogue that it was almost overwhelming. And the next day I wrote 4800 words!! In ONE DAY!! It's not perfect, but I'm happy. And I'm learning that it's my first draft, so it doesn't have to be perfect right now. What's important is to get it all out, then I can go back as many times as I need to to polish it up and make it just right. That realization helps me to not feel so intimidated by the awesomeness of other authors. Someday, I'll be awesome too. : )

Anyway, I have another critique group with the girls tonight, and that always helps with motivation too. Andrea is working on her second draft and I'm loving her details and descriptions. It makes me jealous because I have the worst time describing things. I can see it in my head, but I struggle to put it in words. And Aubrey is still working through her free write and the stuff she's coming up with is intensely emotional and beautifully written. When she puts it all together as a book, it's going to be amazing.

I'll try to post later this week with some musical inspiration when I'm not busy writing, because my head is still buzzing with new material. Until then, happy writing!